Little snippet of Jerry Garcia

[Christopher Woitach]

This isn’t mind blowing or anything, but I was watching this documentary called “Last Days of the Fillmore”, and right around the 1 hour mark, there’s some close up footage of Jerry warming up on the steel, followed by a bit of New Riders rehearsal… I thought it might be of interest, historically, to any Garcia fans. It’s accompanied by some Bill Graham discussing Jerry’s work ethic in a really positive way. Made me happy.

https://youtu.be/_SDWjfsy-GA?t=3680

[b0b]

Thanks for posting that. I'd never seen it. Good closeup of his right hand. Jerry was a pretty good steel player. He inspired me to take up the instrument back then.

[Christopher Woitach]

That was the coolest part, to me - I’ve never seen a closeup of him playing steel.

[Jon Zimmerman]

Same here. Thx for the ‘snippet’. I always figured Jerry had been inspired by close association with Buddy Cage to take up the pedal steel himself.

[Mark Eaton]

Same here. Thx for the ‘snippet’. I always figured Jerry had been inspired by close association with Buddy Cage to take up the pedal steel himself.

My guess is that Jerry didn’t yet know Buddy Cage when he first took up steel, though maybe he knew of him. I think he and Pete Grant both decided they should give it a shot after hearing Tom Brumley with Buck Owens.

But it was a fairly short time after that he would have hung out with Buddy Cage (and Ian & Sylvia) during Festival Express.

[Lance Clifford]

Here is a link to the story of how Jerry picked Buddy Cage to replace him in NRPS: https://www.tahoeonstage.com/artists/ne ... rple-sage/

My own introduction to NRPS came about in late 1972 or early 1973 (it was winter in Massachusetts) while I was attending UMass, Amherst and the singer in a fairly popular (in New England) blues/rock band. My band regularly headlined at this large venue out in the sticks about a half hour from Amherst and also sometimes opened for larger national acts who sometimes stopped in. Such was the case when NRPS played. Jerry had left the band a couple years earlier, but Cage was playing that night.

The packed house was obviously there to see NRPS and impatient for them to take the stage, so we didn't receive our usual enthusiastic response from the crowd. Once our set finished we hurriedly pulled our gear from the stage, including our stacks of Voice of the Theater speakers (remember hauling those monsters? lol) and we got to listen to just a few NRPS songs before we had to head out (most of the band had to be at work early the next morning), enough that I started buying their music and following the band.

I was reminded of that night years later when I went to see The Who at the Cow Palace in S.San Francisco.... Lynyrd Skynyrd was the opening act. I was blown away by those guys, but much of the rest of the crowd were impatient for The Who and didn't show much appreciation for the incredible music the were hearing.

[George Redmon]

Grrrrreat Video Of Jerry, and wonderful story Lance. Hey Christopher my favorite Facebook Jazz Steeler & Guitarist. I miss your post on Facebook, but i just don't have the time for FB these days.

Thank You for Posting a great vid of Jerry he was sure a good player. Sir, and thank you for your advice, and your thoughts on music that you shared with me on FB, priceless. Thank You For the video, and your Kindness. George

[Christopher Woitach]

George!!!!

Thank you for kind words - we’re all here struggling with the scary beast of steel guitar, and making music while we’re doing it, so if anything I said helped, my day is made!

[Bill Cunningham]

OK, so flame me but I guess I am of “that age”, looking at 64. I was raised by a dad who was a good country, bluegrass, and Western swing fiddler who also liked steel guitar. So by the time I heard Jerry and his contemporaries in high school, I had 13 years of Emmons, Charleton, Chalker, Weldon, Hal, Doug, Maurice, and Lloyd in my head. Sorry, but I wasn’t particularly impressed other that the fact that the rockers were actually using a steel guitar. AND that WAS a good thing.

[Jim Fogarty]

That was great......

.....but the best part is Mike Wilhelm (from The Charlatans) telling Bill Graham "F- you and thanks for the memories!!"

[Christopher Woitach]

Bill

Garcia and the Dead were huge influences to young me (I quit high school at 16 in Upstate New York and went to San Francisco and played Dead style music on Haight Street), but that said, I’ve never been particularly impressed with Jerry’s steel playing either, although it’s fine, but he sure did expose a lot of people to steel guitar, which, as you say, is a good thing. I did love seeing the close ups, and guessing what was going through his mind (maybe “I hope I get this tonight..”) The history is cool, especially since so many players here got to the greats through hearing Garcia first.

Jim

Yeah, I loved watching that uncomfortable interaction - absolutely wild to see!

[Jim Fogarty]

Yeah, I loved watching that uncomfortable interaction - absolutely wild to see!

Apparently Graham insisted on that scene being in there, because he liked it so much!!

[Slim Heilpern]

Like Christopher, the Dead and Garcia were big influences on me as a teenager. The New Riders were new when I attended my first Dead and New Riders show in 1970 at an outdoor concert at Weslyan University. I was 15 and it was also my first experience with psychedelics. That combination was the gateway to my love for the instrument and my determination to play music as my main thing (although not always my main way of making a living) for the rest of my life.

I attended many other Dead shows for a couple of years before getting deep into Country and Western Swing, which eventually led to my deep love of Jazz. It's all so connected!

- Slim

[David Farrell]

Christopher,

I loved the video of Jerry on pedal steel. Thank you for that.

The intro to Teach Your Children was one of the first things I learned on pedal steel. I'm a big Dead & NRPS fan.

We should do a couple Dead or NRPS tunes at the next steel meet up!